12 Feb
Microsoft offers $250k bounty for Conficker / Downadup author
Microsoft indicated how seriously they take Conficker / Downadup this morning by offering a $250,000 bounty for the conviction of the miscreants who wrote the malware. They are also working with computer security specialists and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to track down whoever unleashed Conficker. The group includes Symantec, F-Secure, VeriSign, Afilias, Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), and the Shadowserver Foundation.
All Microsoft resources on fighting Conficker / Downadup have been centralized at http://microsoft.com/conficker. We’ve updated our blog post on Conficker / Downadup solutions and removal to include this new URL.
When you consider the amount of effort that goes into fighting malware like Conficker / Downadup that has infected millions of hosts and consumed many thousands of hours of IT resources, $250,000 is only a small drop in the bucket. Since the purpose of Conficker / Downadup is still unknown and the botnet is idle, the reward could have a large impact if Microsoft finds the authors before the Conficker botnet is truly unleashed. Here’s hoping someone out there takes advantage of this bounty soon!
It all sounds pro active, and we all want something done, this type rhetoric, definalty does not work with spam though. In fact soverign states are involved in some of these actions…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Rain
Nice weapon
Then there is piracy, who would think pirates would again be roaming the seas, and the web !
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/01/from-the-moment.html
hack hack … world wide ATM hack
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f7f_1234480960